Until 1902 the sick poor of Hammersmith had
been sent to the Fulham Infirmary, which was under the control of the
Joint Board of Guardians of the Poor of Fulham and Hammersmith.
In 1902 a separate Board of Guardians was established for
Hammersmith.

The Board immediately decided to build its
own workhouse and infirmary and a 14 acre site, surrounded by playing
fields, was purchased for £14,500 from the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners. It was adjacent to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, the
only other building in the vicinity. However, before building
work could begin, a temporary corrugated iron hut had to be erected on
the site for use as a smallpox hospital (an epidemic had broken out in
the winter of 1901-1902).

In July 1903 the foundation stone for the
instituttion was laid by Walter London, M.P., the President of the
Local Government Board.

The Hammersmith Institution was officially opened on 5th December, 1905, by Princess Henry of Battenberg. The workhouse could accommodate 428 destitute poor and the Infirmary 330 patients.

The site measured about 830 ft (250 metres) from east to west and 730 ft (220 metres) from north to south. The
Infirmary occupied the southern part, along Du Cane Road, based on a central administration
building, which contained committee rooms, the Medical Officer's
residence, a dispensary, the central kitchen, larders and storerooms,
staff dining rooms, linen rooms and sleeping quarters for the
domestic staff. It was flanked by the pavilion ward blocks, with male
patients on
the east side and female on the west. The 3-storey ward blocks
lay north and south of a long main corridor, which ran east to west.
(The plan allowed for four such double pavilions, but only two had
been built. The central portions of the lower storeys of
the remaining two had also been built and contained 1- and 2-bedded rooms for special
cases.) Each block could accommodate 150 patients. Each
ward contained 24 beds and a nurses' duty room, a 1-bedded room,
a bathroom and WC, a linen room and a storeroom. To the west of the
main buildings was a 10-bedded ward for maternity
cases, with a resident midwife. Separate receiving blocks were
provided for males and females, located adjacent to the corresponding
pavilions. The
operating theatre was in a detached block to the north of the main
corridor, linked to it by a short corridor. The buildings had central heating and were lighted throughout by electricity.

The workhouse occupied the
northern part, while the laundry, the boiler house, the stone-breaking
shed (the Hammersmith Hospital Annual Report for 1957-58 illustrates a
granite block, part of the last consignment to the workhouse for
breaking up by the inmates of the casual ward), the corn mill and the
workshops for carpenters, joiners, plumbers, smiths and wood
choppers were located in
the centre of the site. Adjoining the workshop block were the
stables and the mortuary.

Immediately on opening, there was an outcry
about the cost of the Infirmary building (£261,000 - a huge sum
in those days) and its lavishness. The vestibule was paved with
mosaic and was surrounded with a dado of the most expensive encaustic
tiles. The dining hall was 'of baronial splendour'. The
press dubbed it the 'Paupers' Paradise' and the 'Palace on the Scrubs'.

The Infirmary was, in fact, better equipped
than most voluntary hospitals and had a more highly trained medical and
nursing staff. There was a separate Nurses' Home and a Training
School for Nurses. The nursing staff consisted of 41 nurses (10
of whom were trained) and 30 probationers, and one Receiving Ward
nurse. All lived in the Nurses' Home, where they each had a
separate bedroom - a revolutionary step at that time. Nurses
worked from 7 o'clock in the morning until half past 8 in the evening,
with three half-hour breaks for meals. (Later, they were allowed one
off-duty afternoon a week and, later still, one day off each week.)
Ward Sisters earmed £36 a year.

By 1911 the nursing staff had increased to
60. There were separate wards for medical, surgical, isolation,
plaster, tuberculosis and maternity cases, as well as one for children.

At the outbreak of WW1 the leading orthopaedic surgeon Sir Robert Jones
(1857-1933) was appointed as Inspector of Military Orthopaedics.
It was the Army tradition at this time that all military
hospitals should 'evacuate' patients as soon as they could be moved, so
beds were freed for the newly wounded. Thus, patients were
constantly transferred from one hospital to another, and treated by
different surgeons. Sir Robert proposed that there should be a
military hospital where the wounded would stay until they were fit to
be returned to the Army or where they could be trained in some craft or
trade so they could earn a living in civilian life. This hospital
should have at least 800 beds.

In 1915 the War Office approached the
Hammersmith Board of Guardians with a view of using their Institution
for this purpose, probably because it was one of the most modern and
best equipped. The Board of Guardians agreed, and its patients
and inmates were transferred elsewhere.

In February 1916 the workhouse and its
infirmary became the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, Shepherd's Bush (it
was later renamed the Special Surgical Hospital), under the personal
supervision of Col. Sir Robert Jones. It had 800 beds (later in
the war, another 200 patients were billeted locally in requisitioned
houses, attending the Hospital every day).

The Hospital was intended to serve as a model for other orthopaedic centres. The British Red Cross Society and ex-King Manuel II of Portugal
(1889-1932) were enthusiastic supporters. The Joint War Committee
donated £10,000 towards the cost of operating theatres and
treatment departments - hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, massage and
plaster - while King Manuel provided the gymnasium building.

'Curative workshops' were established as
occupational therapy for the patients and the Hospital became the
'first experimental hospital in training the disabled'. Many
patients were trained or employed in the workshops. In the
orthopaedic workshop, the men learned to make surgical splints and,
later, boots and shoes, especially surgical boots. Training was
given in plumbing, electrical work, tin and copper work, as well as in
engineering (general and operating theatre appliances). There
were workshops in felting, enamelling, tailoring, cigarette-making,
carpentry, and the making of fancy leather goods. Metal grinding
and polishing were taught in a machine shop. There was even a
photographic dark room.

After the war the Hospital was transferred
to the control of the Ministry of Pensions in July 1919. By this
time the surgeons were dealing not with open wounds, but with the
sequelae of injuries - ankylosed joints and flail limbs, malunited or
ununited fractures and restricted joint movement - which required
corrective operations or bone grafting. In 1921 some 4,000 officers and
men were treated in the Hospital; 2,494 operations had
been performed in that year alone, and 101,596 out-patients had been
seen.

In 1922 it was suggested that the Special Surgical Hospital move to the vacated South African Military Hospital
in Richmond Park, but the orthopaedic surgeons objected to this, on the
grounds that continuity of care would be disrupted. Surgeons
based at one site were able to discuss problem cases with their
colleagues, but this would be extremely difficult if in-patients were
in Richmond Park and out-patients in central London.

From 1916 to 1919, when the Hospital was
military, the Hammersmith Board of Guardians had received no rent.
In 1919, when it was handed over to the Ministry of Pensions, the
Board asked for, and received, a rent of £8,000 a year.
However, by 1921, the Board found that the outgoings to meet the
expenses on the buildings were £9,300 - some £1,300 more
than they were receiving. The Board suggested to the Ministry
that the rent be increased to £10,000 a year, but received no
response. The Ministry was then given notice to quit unless it
paid £14,000 a year. The Ministry offered £12,000 but
this was refused. In April 1925 the site was finally returned to
the Hammersmith Board of Guardians; the remaining patients were
transferred to Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton.

In 1930, when the Boards of Guardians were
abolished, the Institution came under the control of the LCC, who renamed it the Hammersmith Hospital. The
Infirmary had 300 beds, but the workhouse, which could accommodate 575
inmates, was progressively merged with it to provide more accommodation
for the sick. The nursing staff was increased to 200.

In 1934 a Casualty Department and Out-Patients Department opened in a new building.

The Hospital was chosen to become the site
of the new Postgraduate Medical School of the University of London.
The Treasury and the LCC agreed to each provide £250,000
towards the cost of the new building and its equipment. A Royal
Charter was granted to the School on 10th July 1931. The
foundation stone was laid by Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, in July 1933 and the Royal Postgraduate Medical School
was officially opened on 13th May, 1935, by King George V. It was
the only general hospital dedicated to postgraduate teaching.

The LCC remained in administrative control of the whole Hospital and
was responsible for the chronically ill patients in the northern
section (the former workhouse building), while the School took on the
458 acute beds in the southern part (the former infirmary), and the
teaching and research activities.

In 1939 it was agreed that the School would have all the 680 beds for
teaching purposes but, at the outbreak of WW2, the top floor wards were
closed because of the risk of bombing, and many postgraduate students
departed to join the Forces. The main operating theatres were
also closed, and improvised ones established in the basement.
Many of the staff, especially the nurses, were seconded to
hospitals far from London. However, when the bombing raids failed
to materialise early in the war, postgraduate student numbers
increased. The Radiotherapy Unit belonging to the Medical
Research Council (MRC) moved to the site (where it has remained ever
since) and a shaft was sunk in which to bury the radium to protect it
from bombing.

During the war the Hospital treated a large number of air-raid
casualties, which were transferred to its advanced base hospitals in Hillingdon and Harefield.
Since it was not in central London, many of the wounded it received
were those who had been dug out of bombed buildings at a late stage,
often suffering from crush injuries. Many subsequently developed
renal failure. The effects of crush syndrome and renal failure were subsequently published in 1941. A renal unit was later established.

The buildings were damaged by blasts from bombs on several
occasions, and in one raid the Refectory was completely destroyed.
A special unit was set aside for Czech soldiers and airmen, who
were visited by the exiled President and Madame Benes.
In January 1941 the TB Dispensary belonging to Hammersmith Borough
Council was destroyed by bombs, and the service was re-established at
the Hospital.

After the war a Premature Baby Unit was established in 1947, which had
20 cots and, for mothers staying at night, 5 bedrooms and a sitting
room.

A ward of 27 beds for TB patients opened, with additional beds, staffed by Hammersmith nurses, at St Charles' Hospital. In 1950 a Metabolic Unit opened. It had 8 beds and dietary and laboratory facilities.

In 1951 the staff restaurant was rebuilt and officially opened by
Herbert Morrison, M.P., the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who
had been closely associated with the administration of the Hospital.
The restaurant had a seating capacity of 450, with waitress
service available on the ground floor and cafeteria service on the
upper floor. The central kitchen prepared about 2,000 midday meals for patients and staff.

In the same year a single-storey building was erected for the Blood
Transfusion Research Unit. St Helena's Recovery Home,
for
post-operative patients, opened in Cricklewood. In October 1952 a
new building opened for the Obstetric and Gynaecological Out-Patients
Department.

In 1955 a new block was built for the MRC Radiotherapy Unit, which had
expanded considerably since it arrived in 1942. The new building
had three floors (the Hospital later added another one) and contained
research laboratories and two large machines - an 8-million-volt linear accelerator (the first machine of its kind designed to be used for the treatment of patients) and a £750,000 45-inch medical cyclotron, which produced radio-isotopes and an intense beam of high speed neutrons for use in medical research.

By the mid 1950s the Hospital had 694 beds and the nursing
staff had increased to 600. By 1959, when the Hospital had
697 beds (including those at St Helena's), there were about 700 nurses
(double the number employed in 1952). The cost of an in-patient
per week was £34 14s 5d (£34.72), compared to £32 8s
11d (£32.45) the previous year.

The Postgraduate Medical School was rebuilt by the University of London at a cost of £93,000.

In 1957, after negotiations for many years, the Board of Governors
finally persuaded the War Office to discontinue using the firing range
on ground immediately to the north of the Hospital premises, thus
removing one of the most disturbing features of the Hospital.

In 1962 smoking was forbidden in the maternity wards, during doctors' rounds and after lights were put out in the evening.

Nurses living in Hammersmith House and occupying bedrooms facing
Wormwood Scrubs Prison found they were being kept awake by the very
bright flood-lighting along the prison perimeter, installed after the
spy George Blake escaped in 1966.

The Commonwealth Building
was opened in May 1966 by Queen Elizabeth II. Originally planned
to have 8 floors, additional funds gifted by the Wellcome Trust and the
Max Rayne Foundation enabled two extra floors to be added.
It housed the postgraduate medical school, the Wellcome Library
and research departments. The £1.25m cost of the building had
been paid for mostly by grants from Commonwealth countries, with
substantial contributions from various organisation, industrial firms
and individuals in the U.K.

By this time the Hospital was an extraordinary mix of ancient and
modern buildings (some temporary). Hammersmith House, the Nurses'
Home built by the LCC, provided accommodation only for 326 nurses with
the remainder (329) having to live off-site. The medical staff
residences were truly horrendous, with barely any facilities, but the
prestige of working at the Hospital enabled it to keep its training
posts filled.

In 1974, following a major reorganisation of the NHS, the Hospital came
under the control of the North Hammersmith (Teaching) District Health
Authority, part of the North West Thames Regional Health Authority. By 1976 plans were being made to relocate Queen Charlotte's Hospital to the Du Cane Road site.

In 1982, after another reorganisation, the Hospital was constituted a
Special Health Authority but, in 1984, both Hospitals were merged under
one Regional Health Authority - the Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte's
Special Health Authority.

The administration block of the former Infirmary on the north side of Du Cane Road.

The ornate main entrance to the Southside block ('the Palace on the Scrubs') (left). A sculpture entitled The Circle of Life by Sarah Tombs, commissioned by the Hammerwmith Arts Committee and unveiled in 1993.

The main entrance to the Accident and Emergency Department in front of
B block (left). The Accident and Emergency Department looks
somewhat prefabricated (right).The
administration building of the former workhouse was once in the centre
of the range of workhouse buildings. It is now the Northside
block. The 3-storey workhouse pavilions (two for males in the
east and two for females in the west) could each accommodate 100
inmates.

At the southwest cormer of the site is a masonry plaque dated 1908.
It claims the land 15ft west of the wall is the property of the
Hammersmith Board of Guardians.

The Commonwealth Building, which opened in 1966.The 5-storey Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital
opened in 2000, built at a cost of £14m. It is on the
corner of Du Cane Road and Artillery Lane, the narrow lane that runs
between Wormwood Scrubs Prison and the Hospital site.

The old and the new - the Wolfson and Weston Research Centre building
on the left, and Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital on the right,
frame the Southside building of the former Infirmary.
The £5.6m 14-bedded Catherine Lewis Centre for cancer treatment opened in 2002.
The main entrance to the Catherine Lewis and Garry Weston Centre Centre (left) and a small garden beside the building (right).
The former Nurses' Home, Hammersmith House, as seen from the south.
A new £20m 5-storey Renal Building
opened in 2005. Located at the north end of Hammersmith House, it
contains four wards - two with 29 beds and two with 21 beds (left).
Hammersmith House from the north (right).

(Author
unstated) 1921 Reports
by the Joint War Committee and the Joint War
Finance Committee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St
John of Jerusalem in England on Voluntary Aid Rendered to the Sick and
Wounded at Home and Abroad and to British Prisoners of War, 1914-1919. London, HMSO (reprinted
in facsimile, 2009. The Naval and Military Press Ltd in association with the Imperial War Museum), pp 249-253.